The KSR Government Junior College for Girls in Anantapur honoured its alumna and mountaineer Pathan Sameera Khan for her achievements in scaling several Himalayan mountains and travelling solo in 25 countries on a bicycle.
At a small function on the college premises, lecturers and a few students pooled ₹2 lakh and presented to her to encourage her to take up an expedition to Mount Everest in May 2022. Ms. Sameera Khan, who has embarked on the expedition, hails from an ordinary family in Anantapur. She lost both of her parents when she was young.
To meet the expenses for the expedition, she has planned to raise funds through a fund-raising campaign on the internet, and physically in Anantapur, Hyderabad and Bengaluru. “The expedition might cost me about ₹35 lakh, while I have saved some money from my earnings, I need to raise a lot more to take up the journey in the most economical way possible,” Ms. Sameera said.
Her college department head Vijaya Bharathi Reddy contributed ₹1 lakh and the lecturers and a handful of students chipped in with ₹1 lakh that was handed over to her. She said her strength training was on the right track for the expedition and sometime later she will take a few days of professional training at some Himalayan camp this year and early next year before embarking on the journey.
